It's the 365th day of the year. But I'm going to post tomorrow---I didn't realize it was Leap Year when I started this project, and I have black eyed peas soaking to be turned into soup. When I made black eyed peas a year ago, I wasn't terribly impressed, but the soup recipe I have sounds pretty good.

Unlike this soup.

This soup is boring and bland and a waste of time. I should have known better. It came out of a little pamphlet of recipes. This was in the vegetarian slow cooker section. I thought we'd have a nice light meal so then we could eat a bunch of junk at New Year's without regret.

Instead, we each ate a bite or two and then made nachos. With extra sour cream.and pizza fondue.

Use a 5 quart or so crockpot. The best part of this whole thing was chopping the fennel. It makes your kitchen smell like a licorice factory, and provides great adult entertainment while the kids search for candy.

Combine everything into the crockpot except for the spinach. Cook on low for 8 hours, high for 6, then add the whole bag of spinach. It will wilt. It will look yummy. But there isn't any flavor.

I'm kind of annoyed at myself because I KNOW this! I know (just from this year. Before this year I was clueless) that if you put a bunch of bland stuff together the result will be bland and tasteless. But I did it anyway. I wanted this to work. I thought the picture was pretty.

The Verdict.

We've been having ants in the house because of the rain. I left the crock out overnight with the lid off. The ants didn't come.

I have to say, I did try one very simple soup recipe from Everyday Italian that was absolutely delicious. It uses just chicken broth, cannellini beans, garlic, olive oil, escarole and a bit of parmesan cheese. I didn't have escarole when I made it once, and substituted baby spinach, and it was still fabulous.

Not sure if I can post the recipe here due to copyright laws and such, but here is the link. It is very, very good and amazingly flavorful, despite the simple ingredients and five-minute cook time. It has a five-star rating on foodtv.com, with 119 reviews, so I'm not the only one who likes it. (in case you think I'm some nut with no taste buds!!!)

OMG, I cannot beleive it is over. What will I look forward to everday? THANK YOU for all of your hard work! I can imagine the chore this turned into! You have truely inspired so many people to cook healthier and not eat out as much! All my friends follw your blog! You are great!!Maybe we will see a post here and there!!! pleezzzzzzzze!!!!!!THANKS!!!

Well, we all live and learn. And we all mix a bunch of bland stuff together with hopes that it will all blend together & create something terrific. Of course, it never does ... but thanks for sharing!!

I have never posted before. (I don't think) but I am freaking out over tomorrow being your last post! What am I to do?!?!? I read it as much for your commentary as for the recipes! PLEASE tell us you will post once in a while.I am not above bribing....

I have a chard (or spinach or kale) Italian white bean soup that I make that is similar. We sometimes add Spanish chorizo (which is similar to Portuguese linguiza) the broth has diced carrots,onions and celery simmered in it too (which is probably already in the veggie broth). But what really adds some flavor is diced garlic and red pepper flakes browned in olive oil added to each bowl when serving. It's the same "sauce" that you use when making aglio olio.I bet if you just added some salt and the aglio olio it would save the soup.Happy New Year! Your blog is still wonderful even if you feel occasionally disappointed by the results. I look forward to seeing what you have made!regards,Theresa

The basic plan is good, but they utterly failed to season the poor thing! Needs a LARGE bulb of fennel. Needs a lot more garlic and onion. Needs the onions caramelized in a good olive oil. Needs a rich homemade stock. Needs hot pepper flakes, basil, oregano, and a LOT more black pepper. Probably needs sausage, as several people suggested (because then it would be my favorite sausage soup, only with beans and fennel added, and what's not to like?) Of course, once you get sausage and caramelized onions involved, you might as well cook it on the stove top...

I would definite use chicken broth, maybe more garlic. Do you have a problem with beef broth? I have made different soups with white beans that were very tasty. One of the best soups I ever had was one I found on a blog called ORANGETTE. I highly recommend it. You used Kale and I am not a big kale fan usually.

I have loved reading about all your trials - I think my favorite recipes were the Lemon Shrimp and the Rotisarie (oops - spelling) chicken. I will keep dropping by hoping to find more recipes.

Stephanie, I read your blog every day as well and loved so many of the recipes. They are wonderful and some I would probably never have thought of trying if you hadn't shown us how well they turned out. :-)

You are so much fun to read and I will surely miss your adventures every day.

I've never written on your blog before, but I LOVE getting your emails every day. Actually, your crockpot dishes got me to start really cooking. I hated cooking and still cooked for my family like we were in college. Now they are getting real food and we are eating much healthier thanks in part to your dishes. I enjoy the idea of putting stuff together in the crockpot (and fun stuff at that - sprite? brown sugar? who knew?) and having dinner several hours later. And many of your recipes have become staples in our house. So thank you for all of your hard work with all the ups and downs!I look forward to reading whatever you come up with in the future and trying most of it in my kitchen. Thanks!Alli

hahahahaha that is funny. "this soup repels ants" LOL... I've been using this blog for awhile now, and I have wondered if you've ever made anything that didn't meet your expectations. Glad to know one gets by you once in awhile (just like me)!!!!

Dang, I just looked closer at the recipe and it already has garlic! Still, I would double or triple the garlic . Plus, I have this handy combination of spices on the stovetop that I use whenever food is bland...it's a blend of italian spices, pepper and salt. I love finding vegetarian recipes, so maybe this one is worth trying to fix?

I agree - the veggie broth is soooo bland! I have to add a bunch of seasonings to it, if I use it at all. It doesn't even flavor rice. I've managed to make good veggie soup using actual veggies, so why can't they?

I've read your blog sporadically since my friend pointed you out to me, but I'll be looking back through the recipes to find fun and useful tidbits for kosher cookery. Have a great time at Disney!

lol, Lee. You could make that argument with pretty much any crockpot food. The draw is that you (me!) can put together dinner early in the morning while still caffeinated and come home to a fully-cooked meal. The evening time is rushed for many people, and 30 minutes just isn't a possibility at times when kids are crying and hanging all over you.

but. This soup stunk, and I don't think cooking it another way would have salvaged it.:-0